Milburn

Part One-The Milburns

It was a usual town that housed an unusual family. 

The Milburn family was famously known in their town for being exceedingly wealthy. They sounded rich. They looked rich. They acted rich. The money hungry world surely didn't overlook them. They were treated as if they were royalty. Everyone in the town wanted to know everything about the Milburns. Their drama spiraled in the town newspaper, the town's council meetings, and the town's morning gossip. Oh my, the gossip. There was always some new rumor stirring about the family. Last week it was they drank blood for dinner to maintain their undying beauty, and this week it's spread they have twenty servants staffed just to help Mrs. Milburn get ready in the morning.

The first time I heard about the Milburns was my first week in town. School began my second day in town, and some students from my school invited me to go out to eat with them. The whole diner was rambunctiously chattering until a teen girl with dirty blonde hair walked in with a group of friends. You could feel the mood shift. The whole diner went silent and quiet murmuring quickly began to spread. 

"Is she still dating that guy from the summer?"

"She's a sophomore this year."

"How much money do you think she's got in her purse right now?"

Everyone went from minding their own business to trying to figure out the latest gossip about her. Everyone knew who she was, it didn't matter what generation you were from. At that moment everyone's conversation circled around that mysterious girl who's identify was quickly revealed to me - Tass Milburn, the only daughter of the Milburn family.

Everyone was obsessed with Tass. I mean how couldn't you. She was rich from her family's money. She was always put together. She had a pretty face and an even better body. Everyone loved her and everyone wanted to be with her. Girls, boys, everybody, it didn't matter. By middle school she was already known as the it girl. She was a prize to be won, and her older brother, Oliver, used it to his advantage. He got popular in school automatically for being a Milburn, but his rank increased for being the hot chicks brother. 

It quickly became known that everyone who wanted Tass had to go through Oliver first. He wasn't protective though. The siblings never really gave a crap for each other. It's not like they fought they just never really interacted. Their relationship was less like love and more like two kids who randomly shared the same parents. Other than the fact that they lived together, Tass and Oliver almost lived too completely separate lives.

Tass didn't care that her brother used her, but she also didn't care that everyone loved her because no matter how many people complimented her eyes or told her they loved talking to her, she never actually felt truly loved. She always felt like a ghost. Someone who was never really present in the movement. She was more like an actor than a real person.

Tass's brother, Oliver, has thrown a back to school party every year for the past six years. Overtime the parties have changed from extravagant pool parties, to spin the bottle, to unimaginable costume parties. Now, with him being a senior, bottles of liquor and pills are scattered throughout the decorated yard. Tass and Oliver's parents actually fund and encourage the illegal activity. I'm not sure why. It could be a way for them to keep their kids distracted and out of their hands. Besides it's not like anyone would report them. The Milburns had enough money to disintegrate any person's reputation within an hour, maybe minutes. No one would dare try and get on the bad side of the Milburns.

For Oliver's senior year party no expense was spared. There were marbled pillars with velvet red drapery throughout the immense yard of the Milburn Mansion. The hedge maze had string lights spread across every corner. A vast assortment of flowers were used to decorate the serving tables that were filled with various dishes from fruit pastries to sautéed mushrooms. Oliver's party was a magnificent talking piece of the town, and it's where our story begins. It's where Tass first met Elliot.